


Hollow Life

by Strawberry_Budikai



Category: The Hollow (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, Transhumanism, implied suicidal ideation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:41:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24541003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strawberry_Budikai/pseuds/Strawberry_Budikai
Summary: Adam and Reeve have a chat about living in Hollow Life. Contextless spoilers for season 2.
Relationships: Adam & Reeve (The Hollow)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	Hollow Life

Adam found Reeve on a hill just outside of town. He had been acting strange lately. He hardly showed up to school anymore, he seemed moody, or more so than usual, and he started to fade quietly into the background. It didn’t seem right for him. Adam knew he could find Reeve near the Hollow Games Studio. That’s where the team met up when they needed to talk about Hollow Life. Their lives. It was far enough away that no one could hear them, and honestly it had a great view.

Adam saw Reeve laying in the grass. He had joked once that he’d never do that in the real world because of all the bugs and trash. Reeve said it was one of the perks of this digital recreation. Tiny bugs were a pain to render. Adam just sat next to him. He was a little surprised that Reeve didn’t move or say anything at first. They just sat there together, both looking up at the sky, for what felt like ages. Adam felt himself get lulled in by the peace, almost forgetting why he was there in the first place. The silence was nice. The company was welcomed. It just felt right to just… sit. To just stay. After all the running... Few minutes later Reeve finally sighed.

“I think we made a mistake…” He said, his voice was so low and heavy. Adam couldn’t place his tone. Reeve sounded almost disappointed, but that didn’t seem like the right way to put it.

“What do you mean?” Adam tilted his head. 

“I mean… this!” Reeve lifted a hand and waved it lazily at the sky. “I know what you’re going to say. ‘We all agreed our lives were worth fighting for.’ I know that… I just… This doesn’t feel right. It feels like nothing’s moving anymore. That we’re… stuck…” He sat up and looked at Adam, who had drawn up his knees close to himself to lean on, dangling his hands out over his feet. 

They’ve been going back and forth about their choices in The Hollow for weeks now. Reeve had been the last one to agree to fighting for the Hollow Life server. Everything happened so fast and it was so easy to get caught up in the high of the moment. Now that everything calmed down everyone had their own questions. No one knew what to do next.

“You’re right. I’m going to say it. We _did_ agree to keep living here. Or, at least we agreed our lives were worth fighting for, even if we’re just digital copies,” Adam sighed. “But, I get it.”

“Really.” Reeve’s voice sounded flat. Adam felt a clench in his jaw. That sarcastic doubt was still annoying, but he fought back his gut reaction.

“I mean I get how you feel! It’s weird knowing that this isn’t real, even though it feels real… That we aren’t real… but… I uh… you know… I don’t want to die either.” He hadn’t said it out loud before. Adam had to turn away from Reeve. He didn’t want to see his face. The others were pretty touchy about the subject. Mira almost seemed to panic when death was brought up, or the fact that Adam was thinking about it at all. Vanessa broke down into tears one time. She had just talked to Skeet’s parents. They were looking for him. No one knew what to say…

There was a silence for a moment. Neither of them moved. It was just them, the rustle of the grass, and the faint sounds of life from town. 

“…Would it matter though? We’re not real. We’ll be okay, right? The real us, I mean.” Reeve broke the silence. Adam finally turned back to look at him. Reeve frowned at him, his brow knitted with frustration. “I mean I don’t want to die either but, being deleted isn’t death, right?” He paused again, looking away from Adam as he thought. “I just… I don’t want to live forever too!” Reeve fell back into the grass. “It’s… this place… It’s just like I remember.”

“And that’s a problem?” Adam chuckled.

“Kind of… Like… Take my parents, for example. They’re just like how I remember them… but not how they really are… They can’t be! Because I don’t know what they’re really thinking! They’re just copies of my parents from my memories, not theirs…and… so is everything else… And! We’re not real, right? Do you think these Hollow Games guys programmed us with like… advanced aging algorithms? Or are we stuck like this forever? Stuck as kids in the same town, with the same people… forever! Nothing’s going to ever change… And I can’t stop thinking about… us.”

“… Whaaat do you meeean…?” Adam raised an eyebrow. He leaned back a little, letting his legs stretch out.

“I mean the _real_ us. I can’t help but think about what we’re doing right now. I’m probably hanging out with Skeet… We have no idea what’s going on with us here in Hollow Life…. We’re probably not even friends.”

“What?” Adam let another chuckle escape. “Why would you think that?”

“We only made up because of what we’ve been through together _here_. We almost died! We fought a sea monster together… The real us doesn’t have that.”

“That’s true… but I’m sure things will get worked out eventually. The Hollow was just a game. It might take them longer to figure it out but… they will.”

“Man… how can you have so much faith in yourself like that…?”

“… Honestly, I’m just being realistic… They can’t stay mad forever. It’s exhausting…” There was another beat of silence before Adam heard Reeve sit up again.

“So, you’re still okay with this?” Reeve’s voice was a little shaken, like his doubt rattled loosely in his chest. Adam just shrugged.

“… I’m not sure… I’ll admit I’m a little scared still. I keep expecting something weird to happen and we all have to run for our lives again… but it’s been like, what? A couple of months? It feels way too early to start getting all existential about it, and I think we should give normal life a try and just… go from there.”

“And… that’s it? I thought you were the Man-with-the-plan type.” Reeve actually laughed a little.

“Heh, to tell you the truth I’m not super sure about any of this. I’m just sure that, we deserve a chance. That’s what I was fighting for in the Hollow. Just a chance to live. The choice. Now that we have it, I think I’m…” Adam looks at Reeve and smiles “I think I’m happy about that. We’ll all have that weird lingering feeling that all this is fake and, yeah, it’s not perfect. But it’s pretty good. It’s better than sitting back and letting some other group of kids decide… especially since they didn’t know what they were really doing to us.”

“Yeah…” Reeve nodded slowly. “It would kind of suck to be deleted as some after thought.”

“Weirdy tried to do that twice. He literally tried to kill us.” Adam pointed out flatly.

“I.. yeah. You know what. I’m still mad about that too! What was that anyway!? Sticking us in that weird puzzle!” Reeve frowned.

“Right? He was so casual about it too.” Adam kind of laughed. It was a little half-hearted but there was something funny about it.

“…Ugh! Why do you always have to be right!?” Reeve growled, but he smiled all the same, looking back at Adam. “I’m a real jerk if I don’t make up with you in the real world. You’re a good... friend.” Reeve's voice trailed off like he had something more to say, but he ended his thought there. Adam waited a moment, a confused smile slowly crossing his face.

“Uh... thanks, Reeve.”

“I mean it…”

“I know… just… kind of high praise from you. Thanks. Really…” Adam found his gaze going off back towards the town. Something stung in his chest. Would Reeve ever say that to the real Adam? Was it even true? He felt so different from the kid who was just playing a video game. He wasn’t sure if he was really a good friend in the Real World, but did that matter anymore? “Come on. Kai’s treating everyone to burgers. I told them I’d come get you.” Adam stood up, dusted himself off, and offered Reeve a hand.

“Hah, really.” Reeve smirked and took the offer. Adam rolled his eyes, still grinning a little.

“Yeah, really! And we still got time to beat the others there. Maybeee, hang out at the arcade for a while too?”

“Heh… sure…” There was still a sadness in Reeve. He wasn’t going to be the same kid he was before. None of them would be. Adam wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. It just felt… different.

“Come on.” Adam smiled and waved for Reeve to follow him before turning to head back to town. It took a moment but he heard Reeve’s footsteps in the grass behind him. Adam kept grinning to himself. He knew this wasn’t going to be the last time he had this talk with his friends. Reeve might be right. This might be a mistake in the long run, but at least they had a choice in the matter now. At least it was something they had time to talk about, instead of rushing desperately through a game they weren’t even playing.

That’s all that mattered.


End file.
